Troubled Sleep
by aveture
Summary: Post-The Broken Ones. Maline has been having recurring nightmares for the past month. Neila does her best to comfort her while trying not to break down herself. Oneshot.


**This was just a little something that popped in my head over lunch and I just had to write it down. Hope you like it.**

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The sun had begun its trek across the desert sky. The air and sand steadily grew warmer as the minutes passed, it was definitely time to stay underground until nightfall. Neila looked around the small cave they called home. McCreeper was already fast asleep still cuddling the small egg he received from an anonymous donor and her younger sister Maline was busy fluffing up her wool bed before plopping down into the fluff. Neila smiled and rolled her eyes before taking one last look outside. She didn't find anyone coming toward their cave looking for shelter so she headed back down to get some sleep herself.

She wasn't sure how long she was sleeping but it couldn't have been very long, the sunlight still shone brightly outside. Neila didn't know what had awaken her and she was about to fall back asleep. "Neila." She heard the soft whisper coming from Maline.

Neila rubbed the sleep from her eyes to look up at Maline. She wore that distressed look on her face again. "You had another nightmare, didn't you?"

Maline briefly looked away for a moment. "Yeah.."

"The same one?" Maline merely nodded her response. Neila was wide awake by now and motioned her to sit next to her, which she did.

"I can't stop thinking about that place. They were so awful, and kept saying I was the bad one, and that horrible pain... I couldn't get out..." Her eyes were filling up with her tears again. Neila wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a comforting hug.

"Shh, don't cry Maline. It's all over. No one will ever hurt you again, I promise." Neila was almost on the verge of tears herself. It had been nearly a month since she and her small army of friends had destroyed that village full of monsters and inadvertently freed the town from such people. Only a handful of the population remained, all of them either trusted friends from the battle or neutral to the fact their 'heroes' happen to be the same mobs they had been purging for years. They worked hard to rebuild their town, with Neila and McCreeper pitching in, and they still have plenty of work ahead of them.

Still, Maline continued to have nightmares almost every night. She still refused to go anywhere near the town no matter how much coaxing she and McCreeper gave her.

"There was something else this time." Maline spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "I did something I shouldn't have."

Neila glanced down at her. "Did something? Like what?"

"In my dream. I was left all alone. Then a scary man with white eyes appeared, said I can destroy them all, so I did. But it wasn't enough for him. He wanted me to destroy all of you too, but... I couldn't do it! He forced me to hurt you anyway. I kept begging him to stop, but he just vanished. Or maybe I did. There was fire everywhere and screaming, and blood. So much blood..." Maline couldn't go on nor stop her river of tears. It was enough for Neila.

"Everything is alright now. It was all just a horrible dream, it's not real." Inside, Neila furiously wondered why she suddenly dreamt about something so horrible. Perhaps those people did something else and it remained buried until today. Treating her younger sister, the only family she had left, like an evil monster already destined for damnation still left a hot rage boiling inside her. She looked back down at her heavily shaking sister and began rocking her. A familiar melody from the past came to mind, she felt now was the time to use it.

_"Don't cry little child,_  
_Wipe away every tear_  
_Sleep peacefully, your angel is here._  
_Be brave little child,_  
_Make a wish on a star_  
_Don't you worry, dawn is not far._  
_Listen carefully to your heart,_  
_It can show you the way_  
_Never stop believing young one_  
_Night will soon yield to day."_

The words no longer matched their sleep schedule but it may have done its job anyway. Neila glanced back down at Maline already fast asleep. The song had actually worked. She smiled and with a sigh of relief, gently lifted Maline back onto her bed of wool. "Sleep well Maline." Neila crawled back into her own bed to sleep the rest of the day. She tossed around trying to get comfortable again but her eyes refused to close now.

"Oh great, now I can't sleep."


End file.
